


After You

by FallacyFallacy



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Bullying, High School, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Snark, xenosex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 05:41:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallacyFallacy/pseuds/FallacyFallacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For <a href="http://querulousArtisan.tumblr.com">querulousArtisan</a> for <a href="http://secretsantastuck.tumblr.com/">SecretSantaStuck!</a></p><p>Sollux is an enigma, and maybe that's what attracted Dave to him in the first place. But there's being attractively mysterious and then there's just being a reclusive, stubborn asshole.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [querulousArtisan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/querulousArtisan/gifts).



The new world they find themselves in at the end of the game is weird. It's not their old home – Sburb creates and destroys worlds, it doesn't return them – but, thanks to the the faithful efforts of the eight humans, it's close. They struggled to get the ratio of different climates pretty much the same as on Earth, and the geographic structure of it is nearly identical, but due to the truly capricious nature of weather they weren't able to get them into alignment and eventually, after some frustration, came to accept that the climate in southern Africa was the closest to that in old North America that they were able to get and agreed to settle there. They tried, at first, to maintain the same level and kind of diversity in flora and fauna, but when it became clear that imagining up thousands of different kinds of beetles alone was driving the creators in question somewhere distinctly not good they all collectively gave up and decided to just leave it up to nature. At least this way they were able to come up with their own animals, as Jade put to use creating all sorts of adorable combinations of domestic animals and the wild, tropical beasts as on her old island and Dave put to use making motherfucking dragons. And, of course, there was the pop culture – even as varied as they all were (taking into account the trolls as well, as Karkat was quite insistent that his shitty romance movies be replicated) there were still some few things they all agreed deserved to die with Earth, but it seems as though crappy pop culture is a constant because by the time the entered their world proper, most of their conspicuous exclusions had been replaced by imitations that were similar enough in all the ways that matter (read: sheer ability to irritate).

Weirdest of all, though, was the place the players suddenly found themselves in. The trolls had expected to be celebrated as heroes when they entered the world they had created and true enough, there seemed to be something about the humans that excited the native inhabitants. But whatever it was, it didn't seem to apply to the trolls. Although the story has circled the entire globe in short order, it deteriorated as rapidly as a secret message among a bunch of kids playing Telephone and more often than not the trolls ended up being portrayed as villains rather than heroes. They tried to stop the kids from winning, or they did a deal with Lord English, or just that they were a vicious, militant culture that almost managed to wipe itself out and for which the surviving members were the civilised exceptions, a portrayal which Dave has to admit isn't really wrong.

And as much as Dave hates to admit it – because wow, you're being treated like fucking royalty, he feels so goddamn sorry for you – but the whole rigmarole gets pretty damn tiring after a while. They got this a bit from their consorts, anyway, and for the Prospit dreamers from the carapaces hailing from their kingdom, and they're tired of it. They're tired of kings and queens and royalty and magic and worship and all-powerful beings. They've had three goddamn years of it and they are officially done. What they all want more than anything else is just to go back to the type of life they had earlier where they could cook eggs and walk to school and complain about their laptops' shitty battery life.

And that's how, somehow, the lot of them, humans and trolls all, end up standing together on some painfully generic street in front of painfully generic houses trying to figure out the rest of their lives.

Relationships get jumbled and, slowly, smoothed – there are definite wedges in between the meteor crew and the ship crew and the Alpha players and the green sun duo, but for the most part they're not exactly shy people and soon enough the lines start being crossed. Before long, Dave has talked to John and Jade and Dirk and Roxy and Karkat and Terezi and, briefly, Aradia, and when he looks back he sees John and Jade pestering Karkat (or is it the other way around?) and Rose and Roxy having a one-on-one and Aradia and Jake exchanging excited exclamations and Jane somewhat uncomfortably conversing with Terezi while Dirk looks on with amusement and he'll never admit it, but it's all a little amazing when he steps back like that. There were arguments and issues and stupid shit – of course there fucking was, they're goddamn teenagers, getting worked up over pointless shit is like their job – and even now he can see divisions there, but in the end they're friends and it would take more than a world-ending game that kills them all several times over to change that.

And then Dave turns just a little and sees him. He's standing apart from the others, arms crossed, looking quite uncomfortable. He's blind, Dave realises instantly, but he keeps turning his head oddly, and Dave guesses after a moment that it's because he's listening for Aradia. His suspicions are confirmed when she returns to him after a moment, smiling prettily and tugging on his arm slightly. Sollux – because let's not play coy, Dave actually is able to remember the names of the two other trolls still in existence – purses his lips, shaking his head just slightly. With a sigh, Aradia leaves him be, immediately catching eyes with Jade and getting caught up in a conversation about something or other.

Dave continues to look, attention caught. Sollux is, he has to admit, the troll he knows the least about, if not the person altogether. Karkat and Terezi have been around for ages, obviously, as well as Kanaya, and Dave's at this point heard enough from Karkat about Gamzee to have a picture in his head. Even when it comes to Aradia there's the connection from both being time players, and Dave has no doubt that if he walked up to her right now that in a matter of seconds they'd be exchanging anecdotes and laughing.

But he can't quite imagine that with Sollux. He tries to pull up what he remembers of him – the way Karkat and Terezi had painted him in their reminiscences, mostly – and even here he falls short. 

Well, nothing to it.

“Yo,” he says, raising a hand in greeting.

Sollux turns to him with a weird look, like he's actually judging Dave just for talking to him. Dave isn't sure if that's dickish or just kind of sad. “Uh, hi.”

“So you're Sollux,” Dave continues, not really sure of what he's talking about and really not caring.

Sollux makes a movement with his head that somehow translates to Dave as rolling eyes even despite the fact that he clearly doesn't have any. “No shit. How'd you figure that one out?”

Yeah, definitely a dick. Dave pauses, finding an odd smile twitching at the corner of his lips. Stuck on a meteor for three years he's forgotten how much he enjoys snarking away at someone like this. Sure, there's Rose, but she's more of the 'will cause tentacle monsters to fondle you in your sleep' kind of dick than the 'sarcastic asshole' type, and all things considered the second kind is both much more fun and much less terrifying to act like a bastard to.

“Well excuse fucking me for actually going up and talking to some guy hovering on his own like some kid who really, really wants to talk to his sempai but is just too scared.”

“Maybe I was standing over here specifically to avoid having to talk to assholes like you.”

But despite his words Sollux has turned to him and he's finally stopped doing that weird following thing with Aradia. When Dave glances her way and she catches his eye, she smiles brightly, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Dave turns back to Sollux, who is giving him the most unimpressed look he thinks he's ever seen. It's almost like a work of art – some kind of Platonic fucking ideal of unimpressed.

Yeah, Dave thinks, shoving his hands in his pockets and allowing himself a smirk, he thinks he's gonna be enjoying this.

*

Somehow, over time, they end up becoming friends. It's all a bit weird and actually kind of an effort at times – Jesus Christ but Sollux can be an antisocial prick sometimes – but after a while it actually starts feeling normal for them to chat in the halls or at lunch or go out after school together. None of the other humans have really made much of an effort to get to know him, but honestly Dave thinks Sollux actually prefers that. Sure, it's pretty clear that part of his loner tendencies stem from his weird moodiness and occasional insecurity and that his 'everyone fucking sucks' claims are at least somewhat an act, but it's also obvious that it mostly _isn't_ and that Sollux just plain generally has better things to do with his time than talk about movies or gardening or what the fuck ever with the others.

And maybe, if he's really honest, Dave kind of likes it this way, too. Sure, it's annoying when a bunch of them are out together and John is busy and Dave doesn't have anyone to complain about his dorky friends to, but there's something nice in getting to just walk alone with him in silence back from school or being one of the first people Sollux goes to message when something happens. It's almost a possessive feeling, something Dave acknowledges and then shrugs away because if things are good why question them?

But it's more than just hanging around with him that Dave enjoys. There's something about Sollux that never fails to capture his interest, that makes him turn to him again and again when he's bored or that causes him to drift into thought at odd moments. This weird, quiet, moody, bony alien kid who spends most of his time in cramped rooms on hand-made computers should by all means fade into the shadows and from Dave's memory entirely, but in a moment of epiphany Dave realised one morning that that's exactly why he interests him – he's mysterious.

Mysterious. Seriously, Dave? Seriously? What is he, some teenage girl enamoured with the brooding asshole in the corner of the room? And yet that seems to be it. Sollux is a mystery, and the fact that Dave is one of the few people who seems to care enough to try to figure him out only makes it better. Sollux isn't some fucking wizard or vampire or whatever so all of his mysteries are more along the lines of 'really likes Tab' or 'is allergic to mushrooms', but Dave thinks he actually kind of prefers those types of revelations. They feel more meaningful, somehow, in a way that he mostly puts down to irony but which he secretly suspects goes down to the fact that he genuinely likes Sollux.

But most of the time, Dave doesn't really think about any of this. It's just him and Sollux somewhere – drinking coffee at some hipster cafe or exchanging words in between classes or, most of all, curled up on the floor of Sollux's dark bedroom, stripped to tank tops to ward off the heat of the dozens of working computers and machines all around them, licking grease off their fingers as they eat through two family-size pizzas and pour over one of Sollux's mainframes, bitching about their teachers and their friends and pretty much everything. Times like that, all Dave really thinks about is the deliciousness of the salami or the the stupidity of whoever made these shitty parts or the way Sollux's thin top clings to his skinny frame, sweat dripping slowly down his neck.

It's comfortable and nice and just pretty awesome.

So of course it can't last.

*

Dave bites into his Mars bar, lounging outside the classroom door. His class had gotten out early because of some prank John had pulled that had worked a little too effectively so he figured he might as well wait for Sollux here rather than go straight to the cafeteria. This class had already gone out earlier, too, but Sollux wasn't with them so Dave assumes he's just hanging back to get his stuff in order.

Then he hears voices. Dave frowns, chewing slowly and then swallowing so he can hear more clearly.

“Geez, stop talking. There's someone here.”

“What? Oh, whatever. It's just that freak. It's not like anyone cares what he thinks anyway.”

“Heh, guess so.”

“Fuck, what is he even doing? Why do you think he even carries that computer around everywhere, anyway?”

“Probably making some virus he's gonna unleash on us all or something.”

“Probably.”

The voices laugh. Dave is still, blood throbbing audibly. His wrapper crinkles, his hand gripping it tightly.

A moment later Sollux appears, head lowered, laptop carried under his arms. He barrels through the door and probably would have missed Dave's presence entirely if he hadn't stepped forward.

“The fuck?”

Sollux stops, glancing at him with narrowed eyes and then turning ahead again.

“It's nothing.”

“It didn't sound like nothing.”

Sollux starts walking again, lips pressed in a thin line. “Then shows what you know, 'cause I'm pretty sure I'm the judge of that.”

“Is that normal?” Dave asks, trying to redirect his urge to punch those guys into submission by shooting questions at Sollux. It isn't working.

Sollux whirls around, his long, spindly fingers splayed tightly over his computer. “What difference does it make? They're just idiots. Like practically everyone everywhere. I just don't give a shit and neither should you.”

“Yeah, but there's different levels of idiot. And that was-”

“ _None of your business_.” Sollux is glaring at him and all of a sudden Dave is reminded that as skinny and short as this guy might look, even without his Doom powers he could probably take Dave in a fight. “I don't need some fucking knight in shining armor or whatever you're thinking about to rescue me from a couple of petty highschoolers. I can take care of myself.”

Dave stares at him flatly, refusing to give off what he's thinking. Sollux doesn't move.

“...whatever,” Dave mutters, shaking his head. Sollux pauses, then nods, turning around to go back to walking.

Dave watches the back of his head. He knows Sollux is right – anything he could probably do would only make the situation worse – but right now, he really doesn't care. He doesn't care so much that it actually kind of frightens him a little. He's got enough sense to realise beating them up isn't a good idea, but there is no way in hell he is letting this go so easily.

*

After school, he finds Aradia chatting with Terezi at the front of school and pulls her away.

“You're Sollux's moirail, right?”

“That's right,” she says with a smile.

“So you know everything that's going on with him, right?”

“Right...” she says, more slowly. “But, uh, if you're going to be asking me about it all, I'm gonna have to stop you there. Secrecy is really important among moirails – I can't tell you anything.”

Dave frowns. Shit. Well, after everything Karkat used to go on about, he'd expected that, but he had held onto a bit of hope that maybe he'd just been really over the top about it.

Aradia cocks her head to one side sympathetically. “Sorry!”

“Nah, it's cool. I get it.” He scratches his head, sighing. “So you're taking care of him and all, then?”

Aradia studies him as though assessing how much he knows and then nods. “Yeah. That's what I'm here for, after all!”

“Well, good.” He does feel a little better, actually – Aradia is pretty awesome and he's used to her being one of those few other people Sollux genuinely cares about – but in another way he feels a little worse. It's weird.

“I know he can keep things to himself a lot,” Aradia continues, “but I can say for sure that being friends with him is definitely helping him out. As long as you just keep doing everything you're doing, well, I'm sure that'll be enough.”

“Sure,” Dave says, but this is definitely a lie. It isn't enough. Not nearly.

But in the end, there's not much else he can do. Sollux continues to pretend that nothing is happening and the few times Dave even tries to bring it up Sollux shuts the conversation down before he can even get the words out. As the days go on, Dave is left on the sidelines, frustrated and irritable and full of a bunch of other annoying things he can't name, but he as far as he knows, the bullying isn't getting any worse, so he reluctantly stays put.

And then Aradia leaves.

*

It's because of some big trip the role-playing club she'd helped set up was having interstate. It would only be for a week, she said. She'd message all the time. Things would be fine.

But Dave isn't so certain, and judging by the way Sollux bows his head into her shoulder when they hug for the last time he isn't either. 

He knows it's not necessarily that Sollux is worried things will get worse. He knows there's usually a strong dependency between moirails and that they're meant to ingrain themselves as much into each others' lives as possible. He knows that, most likely, Sollux is just sulky and depressed that she isn't around for him to talk to when he wants anymore. But that withdrawn, moody vibe Sollux gives off as he gives noncommittal answers to Dave's comments or avoids the cafeteria at lunch only makes Dave more worried.

“Uh, Dave? Hellooooo?”

“Sorry,” Dave mutters, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

“Geez, what's been with you lately? You've been zoning out all the time!” John asks, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, is something wrong?” Jade says with a frown.

“Nah, everything's cool. Just kinda worried about Sollux I guess – he's been pretty down since Aradia left. I dunno.”

John gives a snort and Jade suddenly goes back to eating, looking away as though to distract him from the smile curling at her lips.

“...um. Did I miss something?”

John rolls his eyes. “Oh, no, nothing. Unless you mean the fact that you are, like, always talking about Sollux nowadays and what you're doing with Sollux and how worried you are about Sollux and all, in which case, yes Dave, you have missed something.”

“Ok that's not even slightly true so uh I dunno what that's all about.”

“It kind of is,” Jade says with just the slightest edge of a sing-song lilt to her voice. “I mean I know you guys are super best friends and everything, but you really have sort of been talking about him a lot lately.”

“And hanging out with him a lot,” John adds.

“And gazing into space with a somewhat wistful air, as though contemplating the sheer strength and nature of your no doubt awe-inspiring bond,” Rose adds, looking far too pleased with herself.

“More like contemplating why my friends are all a bunch of idiots who have no idea what they're talking about,” Dave says, but there's a dark wall of worry rising up in the back of his mind and the more he lets it take over him the more he finds his brain throwing up example after example of him doing all of this exactly.

“I think it's cute,” Jade says, resting her cheek in her palm. “You two get along so well together!”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Dave holds his hands up, and not for the first time feels himself mourning the loss of his time powers and thus ability to slow this whole thing right the fuck down. “You think – jesus, Jade, no.”

“Oh, do sound more offended. It does so please me,” Rose informs him, and he isn't fooled by the little smile she wears as she says it.

“I'm not offended. Just – no. Why the fuck would you even think that?”

“Because of everything we were just talking about?” John shrugs. “It's cool dude, we don't care.”

“There's nothing to care about.”

“Are you sure?” Jade gives him a serious look, brow furrowed. “Because even if you don't like him – and I still don't really believe that, but whatever – that doesn't mean he doesn't like you.”

“We're just bros,” Dave says firmly. “Seriously.”

“Ugh, whatever,” John says, shrugging. Rose gives Dave a pointed look, but Jade just kind of sighs.

“So yeah, that awful new TV show or whatever,” Dave says, and conversation segues well, if not smoothly, enough.

And yet even as he talks Dave can't quite forget about it. Thoughts about Sollux and thoughts about himself and Sollux squirming and mixing together and distracting him, making him feel stupid and impotent and weird more and more. He's sure his friends can probably tell, but thankfully they don't bring it up again. He really, really does not want to talk about it. At all.

*

It takes exactly two days for everything to go to shit.

On most other days, Dave wouldn't even have noticed. He and Sollux had gotten into a habit of meeting at the front of school to walk home together, but it wasn't exactly strictly enforced – if they happened to be talking with someone else, or if the other was running late, they had an unspoken agreement to only wait for a few minutes before going home on their own.

Today, Dave was already on edge. Sollux had been looking even tenser than normal lately and Dave had no way of knowing whether that was just the natural result of built-up anxiety over Aradia leaving or whether something was actually going on. God knew Sollux wasn't telling him. He was seriously starting to actually fantasise about yelling at Sollux about blowing his friend off like that and Sollux graciously agreeing with him, but he always felt himself stopping uneasily at that point. Even if his friends were wrong – which they probably were – he had to admit that they had a point. Maybe he had been too preoccupied with Sollux lately. He was his own person. Obsessing wasn't getting him anywhere.

Not that that was stopping him.

So when Sollux fails to show up after school, Dave knows he should by all rights just assume he was busy with something and go walk home with John and Jane like they were suggesting. He should.

He also very much isn't.

“Sorry, guys, I have something I kinda need to take care of,” he says, turning away.

“Sure,” John replies, and without another word Dave is off, running back through the school.

Sollux isn't in his classroom, which makes all of the warning bells in Dave's heard start clanging like fucking mad. He glares at the empty tables for a few moments as though they're at fault and then tears off again, running through a list of places Sollux might be.

Karkat's classroom? That's out, too, as are the couple of other rooms Dave half-heartedly checks before abandoning the idea. The library is a miss, as are the bathrooms, and by the time Dave wrenches a back door open and heads out behind the school he's almost shaking.

That's when he sees them – those same kids from the other day plus a couple more, surrounding him where he stands up against a wall.

“You fucker, I bet that was your idea of revenge or something, huh? Just sicken you, don't we, so your shrivelled, dead little mind of yours hatched up a pretty little plan – you can't touch us yourself, so you'll just tell someone else bigger and smarter than you and let them handle it. Fucking pathetic.”

“I didn't tell anyone anything,” Sollux muttered, low but full of venom, then Dave's vision turns red as the guy in front punches him in the stomach.

“Bullshit. Grade A bullshit. You were the only one around – or was another one of your ugly little friends hiding in the walls listening in on us, were they?”

Sollux coughed, hands clutching tightly to his stomach. It looked like he was having trouble breathing.

“Not gonna tell us? Guess we'll just have to-”

He raises his fist. By the time he does, Dave is there, holding it in his hands, staring him right between the eyes.

“Do what?” he asks, letting the threat in his tone bleed fully into the dryness of his words.

“What the- where the fuck did you come from?” exclaims another of the bullies, staring at Dave with wide eyes.

“Holy shit, dude, stop, that's one of the players,” another says suddenly, words tumbling out of his mouth awkwardly in haste.

“What? No way...” punch-guy says, but as he looks at Dave, his expression quickly transforms into one of horror.

“Yeah, I'm a player. Dave Strider. And this dude right here? Sollux Captor, aka my best friend. Aka one of the guys responsible for your entire fucking terrible, whiny little existence.” He tries to pull away but Dave's grip on his fist is firm. He leans in closer, making sure he can see every line of anger in his expression. “And if you so much as lay a finger on him again, I'm not gonna be letting you off so easily.”

The guy nods. His friends nod around him, identical in pants-shitting fear as much as they are in awfulness.

“Good. Glad I've made myself clear.” Dave crosses his arms. “Now fuck off.”

They do, scampering across the court like worthless rats. Dave glares at them, sighing.

“Jesus, what a bunch of fucking idiots. Why did they even talk about whatever it was in front of you if they didn't want you to know? They seriously couldn't wait five minutes to leave and go somewhere outside school? Unbe-fucking-lievable...”

Sollux is quiet. Dave pauses, the adrenaline from earlier giving way into an all-consuming, knee-weakening relief so great Dave has to close his eyes for a moment. Sollux is safe, fine. Everything's okay.

Finally he turns around. Sollux has slid down the wall to collapse on the floor, clutching his stomach. There are bruises on his cheek and arm, skin a strange, unhealthy-looking dark yellow, small drops of blood on his t-shirt.

His head is bowed. He doesn't look up.

“...you all right?”

Sollux doesn't speak. Worry spikes in Dave again and he takes an unconscious step forward, scanning his figure for other injuries.

“...pathetic.”

“Huh?”

Dave steps forward again. Sollux is glaring down at the ground, but the heat in his eyes from earlier is gone. He looks miserable.

“They were right. Pathetic. That's what I am.”

“They were idiots. Didn't you say that the other day? Like everyone else. They were fucking morons who did something stupid and took it out on you.”

“Whatever,” Sollux mutters, but it's obvious he isn't listening.

Dave goes to say something, but before he can Sollux is hauling himself up, left arm clasping his right, shaking a little but standing.

“Can you walk?”

He expects Sollux to bite back something sarcastic but he only says “Yeah.” He does, however, ignore the arm Dave offers him. He has no idea what he's supposed to be feeling about any of this.

“Let's go home,” he says, and silently, Sollux follows.

Slowly, they make their way there. Sollux stumbles occasionally, but he steadfastly continues on, ignoring Dave's occasional attempts to steady him. 

Dave can't stop looking at him. His eyes keep darting to his stomach or arm or cheek, or the yellow stain on the front of his t-shirt. He wants to punch someone, yeah, but more than that when he sees Sollux like this he wants to... he wants to hug him, and help him, and do anything he can to make him feel better.

Whatever Sollux wants, he will give him. Whatever.

And if it turns out that Jade was right and Sollux does like him...well, he'll give him that, too.

It should be a surprise. He guesses that later on it'll probably hit him and he'll freak out or whatever. But right now, he can't really be bothered to give a shit.

They reach the house Sollux and Aradia share – not huge, but definitely larger than anything a bunch of kids has any right to have because hey, a normal life doesn't have to mean one in poverty, right? - and Dave gestures to the couch.

“I'll get the kit.”

“Don't.”

Dave turns back. Sollux is standing in the middle of the room, fists clenched, looking at Dave with quiet determination.

“Why.”

“Because I don't want you to.”

Dave glares, the fear and anger from earlier rising up in his throat. “So what? You can just go off on your own and totally forget about the rest of us all over again? Your friends, who actually fucking care about you? Jesus, can't you swallow your goddamn pride for five seconds?”

“No, actually, I can't,” Sollux spits, wincing briefly and raising a hand to his cheek. “Or maybe I can and I just don't want to! It's my fucking decision, isn't it?”

Dave wants to punch him. It makes no sense whatsoever, but he seriously does.

He doesn't.

“Why,” he says instead, his voice sounding sickeningly plaintive. Something in Sollux seems to shudder at it, and Dave presses forward. “Tell me why.”

Slowly, Sollux's fists unclench. He droops, the energy draining out of him. Dave wants to feel victorious, but seeing Sollux return to his habitual depressive, self-recriminating mood doesn't inspire anything good in him.

“I didn't...” his head is bowed again and he speaks to the floor. He clutches at his arm again, lips working as he struggles for words. “I didn't...want you to see me like that.”

Dave stares. For several long moments all he can do is stare.

“...what the fuck?”

“I didn't want you to see me like that,” Sollux says sullenly, flopping down onto the arm of the sofa with the air of a defeated man. “Like I am. Pathetic.”

Dave crosses his arms, then uncrosses them, then runs a hand through his hair. “Ok, first: you're not pathetic. Second: why would that even matter? We're friends, aren't we?”

Sollux goes silent again. Dave waits, but he never responds.

Dave sighs, scratching the back of his neck and looking away. He really, really has no idea what to do right now. He's not one for talking about feelings and neither is Sollux. It isn't the kind of relationship they have – they work on computers and talk shit and do stupid stuff together, not this feelingsy crap.

But, he's realising, there can be feelings in working on computers and talking shit and doing stupid stuff, too. And you can get pretty far into that without ever having to outright talk about it. They got this far, at least.

He remembers what Jade said. Does Sollux think about him that way? It's not impossible. He knows that's the way trolls are. And with how close they've been lately, it might even be likely.

Does he think about Sollux that way?

...no. What does he feel about Sollux?

Dave shudders, but he knows what he has to do.

He stands forward again, standing directly in front of Sollux. The alien hesitates, but tilts his head, listening to him.

“...fuck.” Dave rubs a hand over his face. “This is ridiculous. Just...” He squints, shaking his head. “Look. I care a lot about you, okay? And I wanna know about shit like this.”

“You want to take care of me.”

“If it's necessary, yeah. But not because you're pathetic. Because it's just sometimes a thing that happens? What I actually wanna do is hang out with you and just talk and shit. The taking care of is just a worst case scenario thing. And it goes the other way, y'know.”

Sollux still doesn't look too convinced. With a wince, Dave goes ahead.

“'Cause I...maybe kinda sorta have feelings for you. I guess.”

“What kind?” Sollux asks quietly. Dave pauses, bemused.

“Uh, red? I think? I mean, that's the word, I think.”

Sollux's head shoots up suddenly, mouth slightly agape. “Wh- seriously?!”

“Yeah.” Dave shrugs, trying to look nonchalant. He fails miserably, but whatever.

Sollux frowns, shaking his head. “But...”

“But what?”

“...I thought...” Sollux shakes his head again, voice full of wonder. “I thought you only saw me as someone to look after. Like a moirail.”

“What?” Now Dave is shocked. “But isn't Aradia your moirail?”

“Uh, yeah. Thus the inherent shittiness of the situation.”

Dave placed a palm to his forehead. “Great. So. Glad we got that all sorted, then...”

“Not quite.” Sollux stands up. Dave flinches, feeling an urge to step back, but holds his ground. Now that they're on the same level their faces are awfully close. Sollux smirks a little, the sight sending an odd jolt through Dave. “We don't really know what I want yet, do we?”

Dave purses his lips, snorting in irritation. “And?”

Sollux chuckles, a grin breaking out. “Of course I like you, you dork. Geez, I thought I was making it pretty obvious there...”

“Why the-” Dave glares at him, Sollux's grin only widening. “Yeah, thanks for making me wait like that, that was totally great just then.”

“Eh, someone else's gotta suffer today as well,” Sollux says airily. “Misery loves company.”

“I really, really don't think that's what's happening here,” Dave says, and when Sollux laughs he kisses him.

*

“It's fine.”

“It's not. Have you looked at your shirt? Do you possess peripheral vision? Because I'm pretty damn sure that's blood there.”

“What the fuck ever, I have like a million of these shirts.”

“That was so not the point and you know it.”

“Oh my _god_.” Sollux throws his hands into the air, standing up. “Fine – you wanna play nurse or whatever, you go do it. I don't care.”

“Fuck yeah, nurse Strider ready for business.” Dave gets up immediately. “Wait, do you even have like a kit or whatever here?”

“Duh. Aradia insisted.”

“Good moirail. Where is it?”

“It's mostly for herself, actually. LARPing is pretty dangerous. Which I keep telling her, but I learned long ago that that's one thing she just refuses to listen to me on.”

“Uh, bad moirail, then?”

“Good,” Sollux says with an edge to his voice that Dave pays attention to immediately, “and kitchen.”

Dave retrieves it, setting on the table. “Whoa this is a lotta stuff. Man, I don't even know what most of this shit is.”

“Join the club.”

“So how many pills do you think a bruise needs? Fifty?”

“Fuck you.” Sollux grabs the band-aids and thrusts them at Dave before pulling his hand back. “Wait, what the fuck am I doing, I can do it myself.”

“I guess...”

Sollux ignores him, wandering over to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

“Do you think it needs ice?”

“Uh, I don't think so? What does ice even do, anyway?”

“Man, you're right, you totally know what you're doing, no wonder you were so insistent on doing it yourself earlier.”

“And I'm guessing you do know?”

“Nah.”

“What an amazing matesprit, my cup totally fucking runneth over.”

Dave rolls his eyes but allows a smile to quirk at hearing Sollux call him that. “Yeah, you're right, it's totally weird for a matesprit to wanna run his hands all over his boyfriend's body, guess I'm just a weirdo then.”

Sollux pauses. “You want an excuse to do that?”

“Jesus-” Dave grabs the band-aid, pulling the plastic off and looking at Sollux steadily.

He sighs. “You're seriously doing this.”

“You know it, baby.” Dave squints, then applies the plaster over the cut on Sollux's cheek, smoothing it out. His skin is rough and thick and sends an interesting sensation over his fingers.

“You know that sounds really creepy when you say that while treating them like a wigger.”

“Yeah, yeah. You had a stomach wound, too, right? Take it off then.”

“Why, Mr. Strider,” Sollux gasps, bringing a hand to his open mouth. “I had no idea this whole set-up was just a flimsy excuse to put me into such a scandalous position!”

“Less talking, more shirt-removing,” Dave says firmly, gesturing with his hand.

Sollux tilts his hips to one side, then the other, slowly pulling the t-shirt over his skinny chest.

Dave whistles. “Take it off. Man, best five bucks I ever spent.”

“More like five hundred.”

“Either way you're mine for the night.”

“Only as long as you obey the rules.” Sollux pulls the shirt off entirely. It looks pretty normal, which Dave has to admit is slightly disappointing. He was expecting some kind of freaky weird alien shit, but apparently not.

“Wait, you guys have nipples?” Dave stares at them, eyebrow raised.

“Uh, yeah?” Sollux is blushing slightly. Dave represses a grin. “Why wouldn't we?”

“What do you even use them for, though?”

“It gives out this liquidy stuff with hormones in it. For like attracting people and shit.”

“That,” Dave says honestly, “is one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard. And I'm friends with Terezi.”

“Well, what do you guys use them for?”

“Milk. For babies to drink.”

“What?! Like a hoofbeast?” Sollux stares at him in horror.

“Well, girls, anyway. Guys don't. Wait, why do you have boobs then?”

“Ok not to distract us from this really amazing conversation, but weren't you doing something?”

“Oh, right.” Dave pays closer attention – Sollux's stomach isn't bleeding, but there is a very angry-looking bruise there.

“I think we might need ice on this,” Dave says slowly.

“Well, I defer to your clearly incredible knowledge of troll anatomy.”

“Hey, if you wanted to educate me on troll anatomy, I'm right here.”

Sollux gives him the finger. Dave smirks.

“No, but I'm serious. I think ice would help.”

“Ugh, whatever. You are seriously way too into this.”

Luckily, it turns out that they do have ice in their freezer, so Dave shakes some into a tea towel and returns to the couch where Sollux has sat down.

“I guess we just...put this on here, then?” Dave asks, holding the makeshift bag to Sollux's skin.

“Ah...cold.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Nah,” he says, but the twitch in his face makes the truth obvious. 

Dave takes a good look at him. He was joking earlier, but Sollux really is pretty attractive when he pays attention. He has no idea why – apparently he has a thing for short, bony nerds or something? - but seeing Sollux sitting on the couch, shirtless, cold water slowly dripping onto his pants, twitching every now and then for the bag Dave is holding...

It's really goddamn hot.

He blinks, and when he refocuses Sollux is giving him a good imitation of the unimpressed look he wore when they first met.

“Are you seriously planning on just making up excuses and staring at me all night?”

Dave shrugs, leaning back on the sofa. “It was a plan.”

“A shitty plan. We _are_ matesprits, after all.”

“Wait, you really wanna-”

“ _Yes_ , I 'wanna'. Oh my god but you are so fucking obliv-”

Dave climbs over him, sitting himself down in Sollux's lap and presses their lips together hard.

“Less talking,” he repeats.

“You're the one who's-” Dave cuts him off again, forcing his tongue into Sollux's mouth. Sollux jumps momentarily, then returns the gesture, pushing forward enough that Dave loses his balance momentarily and stumbles, almost falling backwards.

“...I think we should rearrange something.”

“Full of great plans today.”

Sollux shifts so he's lying lengthways along the sofa, head resting on the arm. Dave clambers over him, lying over him and holding the ice bag between their stomachs.

“You're gonna get all wet.”

“Another great plan.”

“Yeah, you talk pretty big...” Sollux teases, raking his spindly fingers through Dave's hair in a way that somehow manages to not be painful at all.

“That's not all that's big.”

Sollux laughs and Dave takes the opportunity to kiss him again, running hands over Sollux's sides. He reaches some odd, soft flesh and prods it, making Sollux gasp.

“What's that?”

“From where our legs fell off when we were grubs.”

“Sensitive, huh...”

Dave runs his fingers along one, making Sollux shiver violently. 

“You don't fucking wait, do you.”

“Just one of the many things that make me so great at this.”

“You got luck-” Sollux gasps mid word as Dave presses his finger into the space where the two folds of skin met, pushing it in.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck _fuck_ -”

“Lucky, huh?”

Sollux is flushed, breathing heavily. And yet for all he's saying, Dave can't feel any kind of evidence down below. Cock-wise.

Sollux attempts to take his revenge by running his hands over Dave's skin, searching for something. Dave smirks, leveraging himself up onto his arms so Sollux can get at him better. After groping his head, Sollux finally lets his hands drop.

“Fine, I get it – humans are weird.”

“So you're saying you give up.”

Sollux responds by bringing his thigh up to Dave's crotch. It's just fast enough to sting slightly, but after the sounds Sollux was making earlier, he can't say the pressure is unpleasant.

“Fucking cheater. Everyone knows the dick's gonna be sensitive – that's not any big victory.”

“Someone sounds like a sore loser,” Sollux taunts smugly.

Dave responds by reattaching their lips, digging his fingers into the flesh at his sides. Sollux moans slightly, rubbing his thigh up and down Dave's rapidly hardening clothed dick until he finally just pulls back, ripping his shirt off.

“We're doing this? Awesome, cool, we're doing this.” He throws it aside, reaching immediately for Sollux's pants which are still disturbingly flat.

“Of course we are, after getting this far-”

Dave pulls down the pants and boxers in one movement and then pauses. And pauses.

And then he says “What the fuck is that.”

“Oh yeah, there are those amazing skills I heard about! What fucking charm, I am just amazed that people do not spontaneously lose their underwear as soon as you enter a room.”

Dave still stares. Where he was expecting a dick is some weird yellow slot that looks awfully like a vagina, except for the fact that out of it is pushing this curled tentacled thing dripping yellow liquid.

“No seriously, what the fuck is that.”

“It's called a bulge, dipshit.” Sollux glares at him. “I actually wasn't kidding – if you don't want me to kick you off right now, stop fucking doing that.”

“Sorry.” It looks slimy. He thinks? Slippery. He wants to touch it.

“Why, what do you have?”

“No, I'm busy here.” Before Sollux can protest, Dave pokes it, snorting with sudden amusement when Sollux jumps and the bulge curls, pushing further out of the sheath.

“Interesting...” He runs his finger along the spiral, and as he reaches the middle the thing moves, pushing out of Sollux more and wrapping itself gradually around his finger.

“That's so awesome,” Dave says, moving his finger and watching Sollux's bulge follow it.

“If you're done playing with it...” he mutters stiffly.

“Man, I'm _never_ gonna be done playing with this.” But Dave pulls away, reaching for his own pants. “Since you asked...”

Of course, he _had_ to have forgotten that Sollux is blind. He remembers the moment his hands start running over his dick, feeling out the shape.

“Wow, it's all...fleshy. What the fuck are those things underneath?”

“I can pretty much guarantee you don't wanna know,” Dave says with difficulty, trying to control his volume.

“No, I think I do.” Sollux feels around the sides. “Jesus, you have hair here? That is so gross.”

“We have hair everywhere.”

“Not like that, though, holy shit.”

“Yeah, well.” He has to admit that it fees odd to be insulted while his dick is being fondled. He feels like he should be paying attention to one of the other more but can't decide which.

“So I guess we just...” Sollux pulls him in close and Dave obliges. Their dicks touch and Dave gets ready to grind but Sollux holds him in place.

“No, like...” He takes his bulge in hand, hissing softly. He pushes it towards Dave's cock, curling it over. It does the rest of the work, twining itself down the length.

Dave groans – it's slick and holding him so fucking tightly. Sollux doesn't look much better, biting into his lip.

“Whoa whoa whoa fuck. That's – that's an awesome thing that you're doing.”

“That's just normal.”

“Not for me.”

All of a sudden the bulge tightens, squeezing his dick and Dave sees stars briefly, eyes clenched shut, leaning forward onto Sollux's chest again. When the grip loosens he breathes deeply.

“That – fuck – that – yeah.”

“Yeah,” Sollux agrees, and Dave chuckles, once.

Sollux does it again, and this time Dave maintains the strength of mind (just barely) to shove his fingers against Sollux's sides again, dragging them along two lines. Sollux makes an odd screeching sound and his bulge shivers around Dave's dick, almost like a soft vibration. It feels fucking incredible.

Sollux is shivering beneath him, fingertips dancing with repressed energy against the back of Dave's neck. When Dave rubs long and hard against the slit at his side, he almost chokes.

“Come on,” Dave breathes against his neck, licking at his skin. “Do it.”

“Nrgh...”

Dave presses his finger into the fold again and, acting on instinct, puts a hand to his dick, holding onto Sollux's bulge over it. Sollux grunts, whimpers, and then moans long and low as he comes, bulge squeezing so much around Dave's dick that it feels kind of painful.

When he's done the bulge goes loose and Dave suddenly breathes, able to feel again. Fuck but that – fuck. He's so so so close and just-

“Here-”

Sollux places his hand over Dave's, holding it there. Obligingly, Dave clutches on to it, moving his hand just enough to get the friction he needs. Letting go, he finally comes with a long “Fffffuuuuuuuuuuck,” spilling come over Sollux's stomach.

Spent, he falls over onto Sollux, lying with his head against his shoulder, trying to ignore the discomfort of his sensitive cock pressed up against him.

After a minute or so, Sollux pushes up against him. “Get off.” Dave lets him and Sollux wincingly untwines his bulge, letting it feed back up into him.

“Wow that is still super weird to watch.”

“Whoa, wait, it went all floppy.”

“This is another really great conversation we have going here, isn't it.”

“Yeah, we're like true fucking romantics right here. I'm surprised we don't have some shitty movie deal already.”

Dave snorts, but once Sollux is done just lies right back on top of him again.

“Geez you're heavy.”

“Better get used to it.”

Sollux pauses for a long time. Dave shifts against him, getting comfortable, and ends up with an arm against his side.

Sollux wraps his arm around Dave's back, thin and warm.

“Guess so,” he says lightly, and Dave smiles.


End file.
